Surgeon held for doctor’s slay

MANILA, Philippines — Police arrested a surgeon on Friday after he was identified as the alleged mastermind in the murder of a cardiologist in Quezon City on July 15.

Dr. Ramonito Eubanas, 58, was apprehended by operatives of the Quezon City Police District under the supervision of QCPD director Brig. Gen. Remus Medina along Taft Avenue in Malate, Manila at around 10 p.m.

Probers alleged that Eubanas ordered the killing of Valentin Yabes, a cardiologist who was gunned down in front of his clinic in Barangay Laging Handa.

Eubanas’ arrest was the result of an earlier operation that led to the capture of alleged gunman Wilmar Ocasla, 42, in Barangay San Juan II in General Trias City in Cavite at around 4 p.m.on Friday.

Policemen arrested Ocasla based on the accounts of eyewitnesses and surveillance camera footage indicating that he was the shooter.

Lt. Col. Mark Julio Abong, chief of the QCPD’s Criminal Investigation and Detection Unit, said Eubanas and Yabes were once associates for a cosmetic clinic but had a falling out.

“The suspect no longer treated the staff well,” Abong said in Filipino during an interview aired over GMA News yesterday.

Ocasla, in the same interview, said he could not say no to Eubanas when he reportedly ordered him to carry out Yabes’ murder as the surgeon had been helping his family.

“Wala ako naisip na tanggihan si doc kasi sa kanya ako tumira. Libre lahat (I could not refuse the doctor because I lived with him. Everything was for free),” Ocasla said.

Eubanas vehemently denied he ordered Yabes’ killing.

“I am not guilty. It is too much,” he told GMA News.